80% Hate Their Jobs -- But Should You Choose A Passion Or A Paycheck?

Most people — 80% according to Deloitte’s Shift Index survey — are dissatisfied with their jobs.

While some unhappy employees muster up the courage to change careers, others opt to grin and bear it.

But what about when the career decision isn’t yours to make? In the waning economy, company-downsizes have put many workers in an unexpected predicament.

All of a sudden, those who are laid off have the chance to re-evaluate their lives. And rather than pound the pavement for a new job, many are turning to entrepreneurship.

John Seely Brown, former chief scientist of Xerox, wrote about this dilemma in an August issue of Bloomberg BusinessWeek: “With the unemployment rate apparently stuck at or near double digits, more people seem to be choosing a passion over a steady paycheck. Rather than waiting for companies to open up their payrolls, these people are taking matters into their own hands and defining their own jobs.”

He points out that with cloud computing and social networking, finding other like-minded individuals with complimenting skill sets has never been easier. Today’s economy and tech advances have made this great recession a perfect breeding ground for entrepreneurship.

“Simply bringing people back into careers that they are lukewarm about isn’t the answer to sustainable job creation,” Brown writes. “In a world of mounting economic pressure driven by intensifying global competition, passion is essential to the kind of performance improvement needed to succeed.” Without passion, people will be choosing between the lesser of two stresses: stress from being unemployed versus the stress of being in a dead-end job.

Tech founder Marissa Evans felt this way, which is why she quit her advertising agency job to begin GoTryItOn.com. Perhaps that’s why so many graduates are embracing the idea of entrepreneurship. If you can’t find a job, especially one you’ll enjoy, then create one.